Whisperpop and Intimacy: Why is Billie Eilish Leading instead of Beyonce?
If some skinny pretentious college kids give you the link to their Spotify playlist, the name of Billie Eilish will most likely be going to be familiar. The proliferation of the new, critically-acclaimed genre, whisper pop, has been going on for years; it might as well going to be the defining sound of this decade. The fact that “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish made it to the top of the chart for weeks means whisper pop reaches its pop apotheosis. Vocal runs in a music competition show such as The Voice, or American Idol won’t get an artist a ticket to the cool-pop gang. Still, a whispery voice matched with lofi-infused beats (preferably politically-conscious lyrics/phrases included) featured in pitchfork or majestic casual channel on youtube will surely get you one. So, what’s behind this zeitgeist?
An odd wedding of the dawn of the diva era and a generation filled with fast-paced internet-native that yearns for relaxing music as a balm of their anxiety is giving leeway to whisper pop. The genre ultimately claims a spot in the mainstream culture of the current musical scene. Whisperpop put its lyrics and musical arrangement at the front row of the appeal instead of the singer’s vocal, thus emphasizing the substance over the minute technique.” It puts the storyline and tone aspect as the mass appeal.
We can trace the genre’s genesis back to the early 2010s; Lana Del Rey and Lorde were the pioneers that finally broke the technically-approved vocal runs standard — dominated by Adele or Katy Perry sounds. Whisperpop shifted the narrative in pop music that shouting the loudest voice would not guarantee anyone to be listened to. The style of emotive songs is so ubiquitous with the rise of Halsey, Daniel Caesar, and Troye Sivan in the mid of the decades. Combined 100 or fewer beats per minute, processed voice serving as an instrumental hook (“yeah”), layers of synth and cavernous reverb, a melodic range of only a handful of notes per chorus, and intimate vocals — then you have had the 2017 chart-topping song formula (Hunt, 2017).
The conversational sound of whisper pop trumps melodic-focused music championed by divas such as Beyonce or Mariah Carey, further giving singer/songwriters the chance to be stripped naked and liberated by traditional singing-technique constraints. The quiet intensity of whisper pop songs was embraced by pop music wholeheartedly; subsequent pop stars in the last half of 2010s decades also jumped on the same bandwagon. Both Billie Eilish and Lauv should thank Lorde for building a pave way to their success.
Personal and stripped lyrics are getting widespread acknowledgment; the old proverb of “art is the experience of one’s feel inside” is finally being put in the spotlight. The artists wear their hearts on the sleeves quite literally. Creative freedom, earnestness, and honesty are essential for the artist, and on another spectrum, the listeners praise those aspects after decades of artificial romanticization of pop music.
But why the sudden change? Some might claim the global instability and massive interconnectedness to the rise of the whisper pop, but a logical reason is that people crave intimacy. Why would breathiness, whisperings, under-singing, and the rejection of Cowell-pleasing vocal runs are so appealing to the modern ears? The pitchfork music critic Jack Tranter points out that “It conveys intimacy, definitely, but intimacy can mean so many things. Under-sung vocals can be very sexy because of the intimacy, but they can be just as heartbreaking for the same reason.” It makes sense that in the social media era when we each feel a growing compulsion to broadcast every thought to a potential audience of millions and are growing to accept others’ broadcasts as a substitute for one-on-one interaction, there could be a subconscious desire to hear music that feels as if it’s intended for just one set of ears (Robinson, 2017).
In an era where mainstream entertainment is dominated by artificiality and constant double-standard, catapulting whisper pop should be an excellent antithesis to said culture. It is refreshing to see how a sense of purpose, meaning, and intimacy ultimately makes it way to top music charts. Whisper pop shows that shouting the loudest in the song is not the only option to make people bopped.
